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Monday, 22 February 2010

Winter Vegetable Stew with Parsley dumplings

I made my stew yesterday in my Le Creuset Casserole which D got me six years ago from Jenners, a famous department store in Edinburgh. I remembered him carrying the heavy bake ware on the train. Ah that’s love.

D really enjoyed this stew especially the gravy. He said his parents who enjoy their meat with two veg would like it too. For me, it was okay, the flavour of cider in cooking is still new to me. I liked the dumplings though, soft herby scones that melt in your mouth. We have enough left over for another meal. So later in the week we’ll be having it again, but it will be with garlic mash, as this is what Rachel Demuthsuggests in her book. I’ll let D make the mash though, he puts a lot more love into mashing the potatoes than me. The reason for this is, he loves his mash more than I do.

If you do decide to make this stew, ensure that you chop the vegetables in the appropriate size as you want them to cook evenly in the casserole dish. Its not particularly nice, chomping on an undercooked potato, a carrot you can get away with, but not a potato.

Winter Root Vegetable Stew with Parsley dumplings
Serves 4For the StewIngredients
8 shallots, peeled and quartered
4 tablespoon olive oil
2 – 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 leek, sliced
4 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 parsnip, peeled and chopped
½ swede, peeled and chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
400 - 440ml organic cider
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon of dried sage
500ml boiling water
1 tablespoon of Tamari or soy sauce
1 teaspoon Marmite
Salt and pepper to tasteMethod
In a large casserole dish fry the shallots in the olive oil until they are golden. Add the garlic and the leeks and fry for a couple of minutes. Then add the carrots, parsnip, swede and potatoes and cook until the vegetables are beginning to look translucent around the edges. Add the cider and bring to the boil. Mix in the Tamariand Marmite into the boiling water and add this to the stew, along with the bay and sage leaves. Season to taste and simmer gently for 35 – 45 minutes or until the vegetables are nearly cooked.For the parsley dumplingsIngredients
110g self-raising flour
50g vegetable suet
1 tablespoon of minced fresh parsley
Salt andpepper to taste
Cold water to combineMethod
The dumplings need to be added 15 minutes before the stew is ready.
In a bowl add flour, vegetables suet, parsley and seasoning to taste. Add enough water to combine and make a firm, not sticky dough. Then with floured hands, break the dough into 8 – 12 pieces and roll them into rough round dumplings. Add them gently to the stew, pushing them down into the liquid. Simmer gently for 15 minutes or until the dumplings have doubled in size. Adapted from Rachel DemuthsThe Green World Cookbook.

This looks really good! The dumplings sounds sooo good! I have never had marmite before. What is the flavor like? Also, I have never heard of a swede! I wish I could come over there and you could cook for me :)

MMM..looks warm! Coming from a tropical country I wonder if seasons make a big difference in the changing price of vegetables and fruits. What kind of fruit is cheap during winter there?Oh and by the way, I didn't forget your request for the pineapple stew. Hope this will do the job: http://thoughtsthatdance.wordpress.com/2011/09/01/idul-fitri-again/That was a good motivation for me to blog more. It's always nice to know that someone can benefit from what I post. Thanks!